Saying okay to gray

All my days have been gray for more than five years now. No, this is not a blog about chronic depression. I am talking about a quote I saw recently: “Life is short and gray hair is easy and (mostly) free.”

I started turning gray before I turned 20. When my white first started to come in, I was reminded of Pepe Le Pew, the Looney Toons cartoon skunk. I had one thick, white streak growing down the back of my head. So I started having my hair colored. To quote Pepe: “Zee stripe! It is gone! She is not a skunk at all!”

For many years I spent a small fortune on professional color jobs, and then I decided to save money and started doing home color jobs. Ick. After staining towels, robes, and bathroom floors for some more years, I got tired of the smell, the stains, and the roots! So a little over five years ago, I went natural and haven’t looked back since.

Even though I find people approaching me from behind to help me lift luggage into the overhead bin and then giving me a dirty look like I played some trick on them when I turn to say thank you, I love my natural hair. I guess I just look younger coming than I do going!

Why did I choose to go natural? First, I really do not like to be dictated to by society on how a woman should look, act, or talk. (I have always had this problem.) Second, I no longer wanted to put stuff on my scalp that I could not pronounce and to which I was beginning to have allergic reactions. I also figured if it was toxic to drink, what was it doing to me when I put it on my scalp?! How was it working its way into my skin?

Third, I knew some mighty sharp and savvy women who had silver and white hair and whom I still saw as role models. And role models are people you want to copy, right? Fourth, when I asked my daughters and husband (whose opinions do matter to me) they said, “Go for it!”

I now wear my silver and black hair proudly. That white skunk streak I had in m 20s is now a salt and pepper combination (more silver at the crown than at the nape or sides). I wear my hair in a bob clipped closely at the back. I have gotten more compliments (women I don’t know will stop me in airports and in stores) on both my cut and my hair since I have gone natural than I ever did in all the years of pricey salon jobs. My husband even has mentioned that he looks forward to my entire head going silver, and while I think I have some years before that happens, it is kind of fun to know we both have something else to look forward to!

How about you? Are you thinking of putting up that bottle, or have you, perhaps, never picked it up? Do tell!